raz lr32 naturereusesandrecycles

Nature Reuses
and Recycles

BENCHMARK • R

A Reading A–Z Level R Benchmark Book
Word Count: 690

Nature Reuses
and Recycles
Written by Molly Wetterschneider

Visit www.readinga-z.com
for thousands of books and materials.

www.readinga-z.com


Nature Reuses
and Recycles

Written by Molly Wetterschneider
www.readinga-z.com


Table of Contents
Recycle, Reuse, or Trash? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Nature Reuses and Recycles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Some Living Things Eat Dead Things. . . . . . . 10
Nutrients Cycle Through Nature. . . . . . . . . . . 13
Let’s Learn from Nature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

3


Word Wise
The word recycle has two word parts: re- and -cycle.
The word part re- means “again.” The word part -cycle
means to circle around. Just as a bicycle wheel circles
around and around, recycled materials can move from your
home to a recycling plant and back to your home again.

Table of Contents
Recycle, Reuse, or Trash?

Recycle, Reuse, or Trash? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Nature Reuses and Recycles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Some Living Things Eat Dead Things. . . . . . . 10
Nutrients Cycle Through Nature. . . . . . . . . . . 13
Let’s Learn from Nature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

3

Clink! Bonk! Plunk!
Those are the sounds of cans and bottles

being tossed into the recycling bin. When you
throw away waste, you put it in the trashcan.
But, some waste is not trash at all. Bottles,
cans, and newspapers can be recycled.
Recycling something means that the materials
that make up the thing can be remade into a
new thing.
4


Recycling is different from reusing. When
you reuse something, you use it again.
You keep it in the same form and
do not have to break it down into
its materials first. When you reuse a
bottle, you might fill it up with water
again. You do not have to reuse
something for its original purpose.
When you reuse a soup can, you might keep
pencils in it. When you reuse newspaper, you
might use it to wrap birthday presents.
After you are through
reusing something, you can
then recycle it or reuse it again!

Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

5

Recycling is different from reusing. When
you reuse something, you use it again.
You keep it in the same form and
do not have to break it down into
its materials first. When you reuse a
bottle, you might fill it up with water
again. You do not have to reuse
something for its original purpose.
When you reuse a soup can, you might keep
pencils in it. When you reuse newspaper, you
might use it to wrap birthday presents.

Nature Reuses and Recycles
People are not the only ones who reuse and
recycle. Nature does this too with organic
materials. Organic materials are the
things of which living things are made.
The reusing and recycling of organic
materials in nature is how living
things adapt and survive in their
environments.

After you are through
reusing something, you can
then recycle it or reuse it again!

Nature recycles
Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

5

6

People recycle


What parts of this tree might be used by other living things?

Remember that things in nature reuse
organic materials. A tree is not just a tree.
Every part of a tree can be used and reused in
some way by other living things. The original
purpose of a tree’s leaves is to make food for
the tree to survive. But plants, insects, birds,
and other animals have adapted to use parts
from the tree to help them survive, too.
Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

7


What parts of this tree might be used by other living things?

Remember that things in nature reuse
organic materials. A tree is not just a tree.
Every part of a tree can be used and reused in
some way by other living things. The original
purpose of a tree’s leaves is to make food for
the tree to survive. But plants, insects, birds,
and other animals have adapted to use parts

from the tree to help them survive, too.
Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

7

A tree’s leaves offer shade for sprouting
plants. Birds line their nests with twigs and
leaves. Sometimes squirrels will reuse a bird’s
nest for their own. Some insects make homes
from dead leaves. So you see, the tree leaves
are used to provide food for the tree, shade
for a plant, a home for a bird, a home for a
squirrel, and a home for an insect. That’s five
uses for the same leaves!
8


Trees are used in other ways, too. Owls
make homes in hollows of tree trunks. Beavers
cut down trees and branches to make their
homes and dams. Some animals also eat bark,
leaves, and fruit from trees.
Trees also provide valuable help to other
living things when they die. Fallen trees
become “nurse logs” that provide food and a
protected place to grow for new trees and
other plants. Dead trees can also provide food
and building materials for other organisms.

Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

9


Trees are used in other ways, too. Owls
make homes in hollows of tree trunks. Beavers
cut down trees and branches to make their
homes and dams. Some animals also eat bark,
leaves, and fruit from trees.
Trees also provide valuable help to other
living things when they die. Fallen trees
become “nurse logs” that provide food and a
protected place to grow for new trees and
other plants. Dead trees can also provide food
and building materials for other organisms.

Some Living Things Eat Dead Things
Mushrooms and organisms too small to
see, which are called bacteria, feed on dead
things such as fallen trees. These organisms
break down a dead thing’s organic materials.
This process makes chemicals that can be
used by other living things.

Some animals eat dead things, too. For
example, an earthworm will eat dead leaves
that fall to the ground. It will also eat plants
that have died and begun to rot.
Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

9

10


sapling

organic matter

tree roots

waste
earthworm

Earthworms make soil great for plants by eating organic matter
and leaving behind their waste rich in nutrients.

Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

11


sapling

organic matter

tree roots

When earthworms eat dead plants, their
bodies make waste. These bits of waste look

like little blobs of soil, and in fact, these blobs
are rich food for plants. They contain many
nutrients that plants need to develop and
grow. Nutrients are what food contains that
give living things energy or help them to
grow. Plants take up nutrients from the soil
through their roots.

waste
earthworm

Earthworms make soil great for plants by eating organic matter
and leaving behind their waste rich in nutrients.

Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

11

12


Nutrients Cycle Through Nature
Materials in nature can be said to go through
a recycling process, much like our recycling of
bottles and paper. A plant gets nutrients from
soil in order to grow. When the plant dies,
earthworms eat it. The earthworms’ waste
then makes nutrients for living plants. The
natural materials move in a circle from plants
to worms and back to plants again.

1

5

4

1. Plants get nutrients
from soil.
2. The plants die.
3. Earthworms eat
the dead plant parts.
4. Earthworms make waste
that mixes with soil.
5. The waste has nutrients that
feed new plants, and the cycle
begins again.

Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

2

3

13


Nutrients Cycle Through Nature
Materials in nature can be said to go through
a recycling process, much like our recycling of

bottles and paper. A plant gets nutrients from
soil in order to grow. When the plant dies,
earthworms eat it. The earthworms’ waste
then makes nutrients for living plants. The
natural materials move in a circle from plants
to worms and back to plants again.

1

5

Thank you for recycling!

4

1. Plants get nutrients
from soil.
2. The plants die.
3. Earthworms eat
the dead plant parts.
4. Earthworms make waste
that mixes with soil.
5. The waste has nutrients that
feed new plants, and the cycle
begins again.

Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

2

Let’s Learn from Nature
When you think of all the ways that living
things use other living and dead things, you
can see that nature does an awful lot of
reusing and even some recycling. People try
to reuse and recycle as much as they can so
that they create less trash. But, nature reuses
or recycles every part of every living thing.
We can learn a lot from nature.

3

13

14


Glossary
bacteria (n.)very tiny organisms that feed
on dead plants and animals
(p. 10)
chemicals (n.)basic building blocks that
form matter (p. 10)
environments (n.)the conditions affecting an
organism in an area (p. 6)
materials (n.)objects used to make things
(p. 4)
nutrients (n.)substances that living things
need to live, stay healthy, and
grow (p. 12)

organic (adj.)related to living things (p. 6)
organisms (n.)

living things (p. 9)

recycled (v.)to break down something
into materials that can be
remade into new things (p. 4)
reusing (v.)using something again (p. 5)

Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

15


Glossary

Index

bacteria (n.)very tiny organisms that feed
on dead plants and animals
(p. 10)

birds,  7–9
earthworms,  10–13

chemicals (n.)basic building blocks that
form matter (p. 10)

materials,  4–7, 9, 10, 13

environments (n.)the conditions affecting an
organism in an area (p. 6)

nutrients,  11–13
plants,  4, 7–13

materials (n.)objects used to make things
(p. 4)

recyclables,  4–6, 14

nutrients (n.)substances that living things
need to live, stay healthy, and
grow (p. 12)
organic (adj.)related to living things (p. 6)
organisms (n.)

bacteria,  10

reusing,  4–8, 14
roots,  11, 12
trees,  7–11

living things (p. 9)

recycled (v.)to break down something
into materials that can be
remade into new things (p. 4)
reusing (v.)using something again (p. 5)

Nature Reuses and Recycles • Level R Benchmark

15

16


Nature Reuses
and Recycles

BENCHMARK • R

A Reading A–Z Level R Benchmark Book
Word Count: 690

Nature Reuses
and Recycles
Written by Molly Wetterschneider

Visit www.readinga-z.com
for thousands of books and materials.

www.readinga-z.com


Nature Reuses
and Recycles

Written by Molly Wetterschneider

Photo Credits:
Front cover, page 9 (top left): © Gerard Lacz/Rex/Rex USA; back cover (top left,
bottom right), pages 6 (left to right: 2, 6, 7), 8 (top right), 9 (top right, bottom
right), 10, 16 (top left, center bottom right, center middle): © Jupiterimages
Corporation; back cover (top right, bottom left), pages 6 (5), 8 (top left), 16
(top right): © iStockphoto.com; title page: © iStockphoto.com/Lorraine Swanson;
page 3: © Comstock/Corbis; pages 4, 5 (top, center), 16 (bottom): © Hemera
Technologies/Jupiterimages Corporation; page 5 (bottom): © David Young-Wolff/
PhotoEdit; pages 6 (1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10), 16 (center top, center bottom left): Craig
Frederick/© Learning A-Z; page 6 (11): © iStockphoto.com/Dieter Spears; page 6
(12): © iStockphoto.com/Roman Milert; page 7: © Elena Elisseeva/Dreamstime.com;
page 8 (bottom left): © iStockphoto.com/Mustafa Hacalaki; page 8 (bottom right):
© Tom & Pat Leeson/ardea.com; page 9 (bottom left): © Design Pics Inc./Alamy;
page 12: © iStockphoto.com/Viorika Prikhodko; page 14: © Radius Images/Alamy

Nature Reuses and Recycles
Level R Benchmark Book
© Learning A–Z
Written by Molly Wetterschneider
All rights reserved.

www.readinga-z.com

www.readinga-z.com

Correlation
LEVEL R
Fountas & Pinnell
Reading Recovery

DRA

N
30
30